Discussed in this essay:

Simpler: The Future of Government, by Cass R. Sunstein. 260 pages. $12. Simon & Schuster.
Why Nudge? The Politics of Libertarian Paternalism, by Cass R. Sunstein. 195 pages. $25. Yale University Press.
Valuing Life: Humanizing the Regulatory State, by Cass R. Sunstein. 236 pages. $25. University of Chicago Press.

As Cass Sunstein tells the story in Simpler, he nearly destroyed his courtship of his future wife Samantha Power by confessing on their first “predate interview,” in 2008, that his fondest career wish was to be…